Craig Ferguson Investigates

For the bullet summary, please go here.

Has anyone had occasion to be taken advantage of?  To be wronged?

And, in the process of challenging the wrongdoers, did they attempt to turn the  tables on you? Did they try to make you feel like you were the guilty one? The one who is wronging them?

Well, if you know what I am talking about, you can likely relate to Jerry Moyes.

I have held from the outset, that Jerry Moyes was setup for failure by the ‘friends of Glendale’. His lease would not be negotiated to be less financially stringent. The SOF loan put a vulcan death grip on what remained of his finances. Bettman and the NHL, adding insult to injury, to put Moyes away, having him sign various proxies relinquishing rights as an owner.

And as if an admission of the ‘bells being chimed’, a flurry of activity to the article on this site entitled, “Was Jerry Moyes the Victim of a Squeeze Play?”. Within a short time, an investment company, the NHL head office, and the City of Glendale hit the site. Did we hit the nail on the head? Uh oh!

The court case today reminds me of those ‘rape  trial movies’ on TV, when you get to the point in the court case, where the guilty defendant’s lawyer stands up to question the poor girl, and says, “you wanted it didn’t you? You did something to turn the man on, come on, admit it”.

It’s this kind of low as you can get grovelling that is so beneath dignity that you wonder how those involved can actually sleep at night, and live with themselves.

Well, today in the Coyotes’ bankruptcy case that is exactly what happened.

Outside the courtroom, here is what Gary Bettman had to say:

“They feel that throughout this process there have been a series of frustrating obstacles that have been placed in their way, roadblocks if you will, to try, they believe, to discourage their bidding,” Bettman said.

What exactly were these ‘roadblocks’, I’d like to know? Would these obstacles have anything to do with the setup of Jerry Moyes by any chance?

How dare Jerry Moyes attempt to recover the $100 million loan he forwarded the Coyotes. Yes, once they had all his money, and he was no longer of any use to anyone in Glendale, they cast him off. And then when he tried to get to the bottom of the setup, and questioned why the City of Glendale would give favor to the Reinsdorf family over him in renegotiation of the lease, and concessions, and a better loan arrangement, it is claimed to be harassment?

Can these people really sleep at night? Truly feel good about themselves?

And the attorney for Jerry Reinsdorf claimed:

Klein indicated Reinsdorf was on the brink of withdrawing the bid.

“I don’t know how long we’re going to be in here wasting time and money,” Klein said, noting that confidential information already had been made public by Moyes’ attorneys, who said it was a mistake and have apologized.

Sorry Mr. Klein. Would the money lost come close to the $100 million of Mr. Moyes? Didn’t think so.

The court process and strategy is called, for lack of better terminology, a ‘twisting of the truth’. A deferring and deflecting of the issues. The real issue is the abuse Jerry Moyes took from the collusion by the friends of Glendale. Let’s not forget that.

Let’s just hope Judge Baum is leaving all those issues on the table, at the back, and hoping they won’t be necessary. Perhaps it will take civil court action to bring these allegations to the forefront where they cannot be deflected and ignored. I feel sorry for Judge Baum, having to endure these crybabies. He is certainly earning his paycheck.

Until then, we will continue to swallow the court strategies, and suffer the indignities that must be suffered.

When the attorney for Jerry Reinsdorf says his client is ready to dash, the question we must ask is whether this bidder is truly here to do a good job to save the Coyotes? How hard would he be willing to work to turn the fortunes around? No, it sounds more like damage control at this point than true concern.

With a city that would sooner not spend a taxpayer penny on any concessions to save the team, where does the 11.5% sales tax come from? Do the local restaurant owners really believe it will make that big a difference?

As I write this column, the Jonas Brothers will likely be on stage entertaining the meddly of fans packing Jobing.com arena. An entertainment venue that does more than house 41 games of NHL hockey in a year. The top ticket price is close to or exceeds $100. How does that compare to trying to get people interested in NHL hockey?

The restaurants will do just fine, thank you, without having to pay the Coyotes 11.5% of their revenues. Why, so some rich people can bank some? No, restaurant owners work hard for every penny they earn. They do not need anyone’s hand in their pockets, thank you very much!

I have had just about enough of the ‘poor me, look what you are doing to us’ garbage that we are being fed from people who are far from destitute.

If I have contributed even in a small way to the cause to bring a little discomfort to those that feel it was OK to strip a man of his wealth, and then his dignity, you can sign me up to the permanent list of volunteers willing to continue the process.

In short, boo hoo, get over it!

We should all recover from the anger toward the insult to Jerry Moyes.

Jerry Moyes is a reflection of lack of concern for people and their well-being. No different than not caring that taxpayers have to pay close to $500,000 for a single parking spot. The money for that spot comes out of the pockets of every resident. Where is the concern that their standard of living suffers?

Jerry Moyes represents you, and he represents me. He, of all the people in this drama deserves support and credit. Credit for bringing to the forefront a league that is not OK. A league that is in dire need of repair. Exposing what lies beneath the surface. And having the courage to suffer indignities in the process. You see, there are not too many people in the world like Jerry Moyes. There are a lot like the ‘friends to Glendale’.

And, a vote of 26-0 against a man like Jim Balsillie speaks volumes to the brainwashing of a league to its’ governors.

‘Roadblocks’ Mr. Bettman? For the NHL, this is just the beginning.

Before this hockey fan can enjoy hockey again, the injustices to men like Jerry Moyes, and the injustices and abuse of the taxpayers of Arizona must first be remedied.

It’s time for people to stand up to this. If not now, when? If not for this cause, what?

Don’t be fooled into feeling sorry for the wrong people here. Those inconvenienced and frustrated for being exposed for some pretty inhumane behaviour.  No, they are just scrambling to cover their tracks.

Stand up tall. It’s time to not allow the victim to be seen as the perpetrator.

For the bullet summary, please go here.

Competing Companies. Competing Ideas. Competing viewpoints.

Would you expect competitors to all agree on something, and unanimously work in cooperation?

To think that all the Board of Governors of ‘anything’ would unanimously vote in favor of one idea is almost insane. The reason is unique companies in competition with one another will welcome anything that would give them a ‘differential advantage’ over their competitors. How they view ‘anything’ will vary with personality, and ultimately how they perceive getting a bigger piece of the competition’s pie. We can apply this to almost any business, and I have opportunity to do just that.

Muckety muck, muck, muck!

It’s actually quite  fun to use Muckety maps (http://www.muckety.com).

Today, I got a visit from a company called Macerich. Well, I just had to stir up some more ‘muck’ so I decided to see what they are all about. It’s no coincidence a lot of times when someone hits a specific webpage on this site now. Just like there is no coincidence in the relationships surrounding the group in Glendale all toeing the line to get a piece of the development pie. Probably would explain why the City of Glendale visited our site today, as did MSD Capital of New York. MSD first, if that is of any consequence. Suffice it to say, something’s up in the state of Arizona these days.

Well, we mentioned Alan Leventhal a while back. You might recall he (his company) was called in by Michael Reinsdorf to give advice to the City of Glendale on the Jobing.com arena operations. His company involved there was Beacon Sports. This was a month before Jerry Moyes declared the team bankrupt.

Well, as I explained as well, Leventhal also owns Beacon Capital, specializing in REIT’s (Real Estate Investment Trusts).

I also suggested that Leventhal is likely not only a friend of Glendale, but also a friend of Michael Dell at MSD Capital. Why that may be more true now than ever can be explained perhaps, by the visit from Macerich today. In fact, it is downright, blooming funny. That is, as in ‘Bloomingdale’s’ type funny.

Everyone knows Bloomingdale’s department store. It’s pretty famous.  Let’s just say that it is a premier store that all malls would love to have. Well, hold that thought. Let’s get back to the ‘muckety’ thing.

Macerich is operated by a man named Arthur Coppola. Macerich also acquired in 2002, a property manager for malls by the name of Westcor Partners.

Ok?

Now, if we look at this muckety map, we can see that Alan Leventhal and Arthur Coppola are both Board of Governors  members of the NAREIT (National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts). Let’s liken that to the Board of Governors member for, say the Toronto Maple Leafs, and another for the Hamilton Tigers (the leagues newest member).

At first glance, we might think, how nice. They must both be friends. Well, that could be true. But think of the NHL Board of Governors. They represent competing teams. They may get along OK, but at the end of the day they are vying for the same prize, the elusive Stanley Cup. So, although they may get along, they have competing agendas. They will not agree on everything. Keep that in mind for later too.

Anyhow, Bloomingdale’s department store was slated to open in Phoenix in the CityNorth development. Of course, that is now on hold due to the court battle, making financing a question. The bigger question is how does tax subsidies, and REIT’s play a role? Are REIT’s involved in development subsidies for shopping malls? Well, I would say they would have to be, because, Westcor runs malls, and Westcor is part of Macerich. Macerich, is a huge REIT company, in direct competition with Beacon Capital (Alan Leventhal).

According to the Arizona Central article in June:

Westcor Vice President David Nelson said the Phoenix mall developer is in almost daily contact with Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s. Most of the Macy’s stores in Arizona are in Westcor malls, and Westcor’s parent, Macerich Co., is a landlord to Bloomingdale’s in other states.

“When the time comes for Bloomingdale’s to enter the market, we would like to see them in one of our existing properties or a new one as the market demands,” Nelson said.

Let’s look at this a step further. Who has been trying to steal Bloomingdale’s away from the CityNorth Development (Related Companies, part owned by MSD Capital)? You got it! Westcor and Macerich.

So, we might as well say it this way. Coppola is trying to take Bloomingdale’s away from Related Companies, and effectively MSD Capital. We have established Leventhal as friends with Michael Reinsdorf, and indirectly connected to MSD Capital through another connection, as shown in this muckety map. Suffice it to suggest Leventhal is leaning to MSD Capital.

Let’s consider the real business again here. It has, will, and for the near future be related to land development, investment in land development, and taxes. That’s it!

So, Leventhal being in the REIT business, friends of Reinsdorf and Dell, would seem to be in competition with the other player in Arizona, Coppola and Macerich.

Macerich showing up on the site today, came to visit the page related to the Coyotes being more about land development subsidies than hockey.

Macerich came there, no doubt for two reasons. One, in concern over what happens should subsidies be affected? And two, to see how the competition is fairing. Fair enough, wouldn’t you agree?

Regardless of why Macerich happened to key in on that particular article, it opened the door to examine another game in Arizona with competition. There are competing developers, investors, and specifically competing REIT companies.

We see two Board of Governor members of the NAREIT, and we can compare that competition to the NHL’s Board of Governors.

Board of Governors for the NAREIT or the NHL have one thing in common. If they operate competing businesses (or teams) they will have differing strategies for success. They will also look to take advantage of opportunity or misfortune of a competitor, as in the case of CityNorth and Bloomingdale’s.

When an idea, opportunity, or anything comes to question (in this case a request for membership of a new owner), they, in all statistical likelihood will not unanimously agree. It would almost be a statistical impossibility given the way they view the marketplace. The reason; they all are looking to win the prize, with unique strategy.

In the case of hockey ownership, you would expect some owners to welcome a team stationed in Southern Ontario. To some teams it may present an advantage. Not to all, but to some.

Just like a competitor comes to a site to see what issues the market holds, or to check up on the competition. No different. If you put 26 businesses in the same room, and gave them free ability to make a choice on a given subject, you would most definitely have several viewpoints. That is, under normal, fair, conditions.

In order to convince all 26 to agree on a given issue, it would have to be in the argument, or the presentation. A presentation that would be bias and unfair.

 

I would like to close with an important thought. Why would the entire BOG vote against Jim Balsillie? You would think that some would welcome him, and some would not. But unanimous? This to me raises yet another red flag in a long list of red flags.

It just isn’t in keeping with the nature of any Board of Governors. Whether it’s in REIT’s or hockey teams. The principles are the same.

The NHL has been shown to be anything but neutral. No surprise.

It would seem there is the truth, and then there is  another ’truth’ as seen by the NHL and it’s partners.